In a college baseball season dominated by Stephen Strasburg, another team on the opposite side of the city is quietly enjoying its best season.

UC San Diego heads into the NCAA Division II Western Regionals this weekend ranked No. 2 in the nation.

Winners of the California Collegiate Athletic Association regular-season title and the postseason tournament, the Tritons have a 36-12 record with almost as many interesting stories as there are players.

For example, the ace of the staff, Tim Shibuya, went to a high school in Jackson, Wyo., that had ample snow in the spring but no baseball.

The No. 3 man in the rotation, Tim Decker (8-2, 3.73 ERA), is the school's all-time leader in wins. And No. 4, Kirby St. John (2-2, 5.52 ERA), was the ace of the 2008 staff. Oh, the No. 2 man, Matt Rossman (7-2, 2.74 ERA), has returned to action just three weeks after being struck in the face by a line drive.

Offensively, the Tritons hit .336 and averaged 7.2 runs a game. Seven regulars hit .325 or better and two – second baseman Garrett Imeson (hits) and left fielder Evan Kehoe (homers) – set career school records.

Yet, when you ask the Tritons what they do best, the answer is . . . defense.

“We're well-rounded,” Tritons head coach Dan O'Brien said yesterday as UCSD went through a final workout on campus before heading to the regionals in Keizer, Ore.

The top seed in the regionals, the Tritons will play Cal State Dominguez Hills at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the opener of the four-team, double-elimination series. No. 2 seed and host Western Oregon plays Sonoma State in the second game.

“We're not a club that you say 'wow' when you see us,” O'Brien said. “We're not big. We're not flashy. But we're very disciplined. And we don't make a lot of errors.”

Physically or mentally.

The Tritons led all of Division II in team defense the past two seasons, and junior shortstop Vance Albitz was the winner of the Rawling Gold Glove for all of Division II last season.

Although he ranks among the favorites to again win the award, Albitz believes this season's national Gold Glove should go to Tritons second baseman Imeson.

“I'd love to see that,” said the 5-foot-6 Albitz, who prides himself not for his defense or offense – he has a .378 batting average and leads the Tritons in runs (53) and hits (71) – but rather his uniform.

“Each game, it's between (catcher) Kellen Lee and myself to see who has the dirtiest uniform. I love that part of the game. And it's that way throughout our dugout. This is the best 'team' team I've ever played on.”

None of the Tritons are on scholarship. None were drafted out of high school. Most of them were walk-ons rather than recruits.

The sophomore Shibuya, for example, came to UCSD because of its pharmaceutical chemistry program. Although O'Brien had been alerted that Shibuya was interested in playing, he hadn't met the pitcher before the annual tryout camp in the spring of 2008.

“My pitching coach (Matt Hobbs) screamed across the field, 'Coach, you've got to get over here,' ” O'Brien said. “I thought someone had been hurt. I get over to the pitchers and Hobbs shows me the radar gun. Ninety.”

“When I was in high school, we used to practice baseball in the gym with tennis balls,” Shibuya said. “We tried to go to Montana for one tournament each year and I played American Legion ball in the summer. But no college coach or scout ever saw me. How could they have?”

Shibuya is 7-4 this season with a 1.81 ERA. He's a fastball-slurve pitcher who notes with pride that he uses a changeup. “I saw what Trevor Hoffman did with that pitch,” he said.

So, what's the best thing about playing baseball at UCSD?

“We trust each other,” said Shibuya, citing the game when Rossman was hit in the face by a line drive as an example. “Ryland McFadden comes in and pitches 5 1/3 innings and gives up one hit. Every game is like that.”

When asked to identify his unsung hero, Albitz cites Eric Abraham, who hasn't pitched an inning this season following “Tommy John” surgery to his elbow. “But he's here for every practice and every game,” Albitz said. “It's inspirational.”

“Most of us recruited ourselves to this university,” said Imeson, a management science major and a four-time All-CCAA pick (hitting .342 this season). “We're here because this is where we wanted to be for college and where we were fortunate enough to be accepted.”

Five Tritons are homegrown.

Kehoe (Mira Mesa High) hit .376 this season and led the Tritons with 44 RBI. Lee (Palomar College) paced UCSD with 11 homers. Guido Knudson (Bonita Vista High) is 4-0 with a 3.72 ERA and nine saves as the closer in the bullpen. Nick Burke (La Costa Canyon High) hit .280 as an outfielder. And Brad Procopio (Montgomery High) is a freshman redshirt pitcher.